May. 1, 2005

Urbana, Ill. - Playing in their backyard in front of nearly 400 Illini faithful, the Fighting Illini men's tennis team won their fourth straight Big Ten Tournament title on Sunday afternoon over the second-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes, 4-2. This was the second year in-a-row they have claimed the Championship over the Buckeyes and have now won eight of the last nine Big Ten Tournaments. With today's victory, the No. 5 Illini earned the Big Ten's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, where play begins in two weeks.

"We told the guys every time they go out they have something to prove, because they can't rely on past success and we have to find ways to get better," head coach Craig Tiley said. "We were disappointed we lost the doubles point, because I didn't feel we played that well. We were comfortable going into singles because we had been playing well, fighting hard and we had a theme entering this postseason that the hungry dog hunts best. We wanted to be the hungry dog and that is the approach we took."

Another splendid accomplishment set on Sunday was by the Illini senior class of Chris Martin, Conner Murnighan and Evan Zeder. The 2005 senior class surpassed one of the most impressive marks in the programs history with today's win as it gave them 113 victories over their four years, topping the record mark set by last year's seniors (112-13). The senior class is now an astounding 113-9 (.926) since 2002 and in that span have won a National Championship, four regular season Big Ten titles and now four tournament championships.

The Orange and Blue had been successful the past two days in doubles without dropping a match, but today the Illini faced one of the better doubles teams in the country. Illinois' pair of GD Jones and Monte Tucker gave Ohio State's fifth-ranked duo of Scott Green and Ross Wilson all they could handle at No. 1. In a back-and-forth match, Jones and Tucker went point for point with the Buckeyes' duo, but the tandem of Green and Wilson pulled away late to win 8-5 at No. 1. Pramod Dabir and Ryler DeHeart also gave a valiant effort, but fell short to Chris Klingemann and Devin Mullings, 8-6 at No. 2.

After a disappointing outcome in doubles and battling the unpleasant wind conditions, the Illini had no other option but to step up their game after the break. The Illini needing to capture four of the six singles matches, began with a furry as they jumped out to early leads in four of the matches.

The Illini notched their first point on one of the early leads as GD Jones ran away at No. 2 with a dominant effort over Chris Klingemann in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0. This was Jones' first victory of the tournament as his previous matches were abandoned. Next in line for the Illini was senior Chris Martin. Martin gave the Illini a 2-1 edge by winning his third straight set match of the Tournament against Ohio State's Drew Eberly, 6-4, 6-3. The senior has now won eight straight sets dating back to a match with Iowa on April 24th and improves to 12-7 overall on the season.

"It is always good to see people who haven't been playing well, go into the postseason and play at another level," Tiley said. "Chris Martin is 6-0 in his last six sets and Pramod Dabir who has been struggling all year, did a great job this weekend. It is fun to see some of the older guys, who have been struggling, step it up in the post season."

With the Orange and Blue holding a 2-1 edge, the Buckeyes responded with a convincing win of their own at No. 3. Freshman Monte Tucker had a tough task against the talented No. 59 Joey Atas. The Buckeye handled the Illini newcomer, 6-2, 6-3.

Unfortunately for Ohio State that was the last point they would tally on the afternoon.

At No. 4, freshman Ruben Gonzales put on a show for the Illini contingent. After losing the first set, the freshman displayed senior-like poise and responded with a beat down in the next two sets to win, 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 against Ross Wilson of Ohio State. Gonzales improved to a striking 28-4 overall record with today's victory and finishes 11-0 verses Big Ten competition on the season.

For the second consecutive year, the Fighting Illini looked to junior Ryler DeHeart to close it out. DeHeart, who provided the clinching match in last year's final against Ohio State, was at it again, this time against No. 57 Devin Mullings. The Florida native jumped out to a 6-4 first set victory over Mullings and it looked as if things were in control. However, the Buckeye sophomore responded. Mullings pulled it together in the second set, as he jumped out to a early 3-0 edge, but like so many times DeHeart was determined to answer back. DeHeart soon tied the set at 3-3 and from that point on began to break the Bahamas native down in swirling winds to take a 6-5 lead and go on to a 7-5 straight set winner.

Illinois will begin its pursuit of the 2005 NCAA Championship with first-round play Saturday, May 14. The NCAA will announce pairings live on ESPNews Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. CDT.

Big Ten Final Results
No. 1 seed Illinois 4, No. 2 seed Ohio State 2

Doubles:
1. No. 5 Scott Green/R. Wilson (OSU) def. GD Jones/M. Tucker (ILL)	8-5
2. C. Klingemann/D. Mullings (OSU) def. P. Dabir/R. DeHeart (ILL)	 8-6
3. J. Atas/D. Eberly (OSU) vs. C. Martin/Ryan Rowe (ILL) 		        7-4 (DNF)
Order of Finish: 2, 1
Singles:
1. #8 Ryler DeHeart def. #57 Devin Mullings (OSU) 	 6-4, 7-5
2. #24 GD Jones (ILL) def. Chris Klingemann (OSU)	  6-2, 6-0
3. #59 Joey Atas (OSU) def. Monte Tucker (ILL) 		   6-2, 6-3
4. Ruben Gonzales (ILL) def. Ross Wilson (OSU)		    4-6, 6-1, 6-0
5. Chris Martin (ILL) def. Drew Eberly (OSU)		      6-4, 6-3
6. Pramod Dabir (ILL) vs. Dennis Mertens (OSU)		    6-3, 6-5 (DNF)
Order of Finish: 2, 5, 3, 4, 1